Vampire Night / 246 issues

[handbakedarcade]

Hi All

So the dreaded 246's....

I have a vampire night standard CRT model cab that is playing up. Sometimes it freezes on boot. Other times it will load but then within half hour to an hour or so the screen will show almost like its lost sync and then go blank or freeze. I have done all the usual things including putting a NOS DVD drive in it and running it from a Naomi PSU as well as Suzo Happ. I have also tried upping the 5v a bit as I know these boards are power hungry.

What I have now done is bought the 246 back to the workbench to see if i can get it run stable on the bench. I am using the 246 > JAMMA adapter below:



It will successfully boot soul calibur 2, so I know the board and drive etc is working correctly, however when I insert the Vampire Night disc + security dongle, the screen freezes on the 'Connecting JVS Monitor' splash screen every time.

Does Vampire Night look for a specific IO and therefor not boot because this JAMMA adapter is not gun compatible? Could the IO also be at fault in the cab itself? I am running out of ideas, so any advice given will be appreciated! The 246 I am currently using is below, though I am having same issues with others.



Cheers.

 

[channel27]

I've had problems with Tekken 4 on 246 and Tekken 5 on 256. Both refused to be stable - sometimes loaded, sometimes didn't, sometimes hung at a random point.

I fixed Tekken 5 by trying lots of different DVD drives until I found one that worked.
Tekken 4 was fixed by burning a new DVD at a very slow speed.

Have you tried a different DVD disk?

 

[david656]

I have a working Vampire Night if I can help in anyway?

 

[jonhughes]

I might be wrong but in all the images I have seen of the system board for Vampire Night it showed a unique PCB (rack A variant with board specific I/O and connections) but I can see that you are using a generic rack B motherboard. This might be the cause of your issues.

 

[tb2000]

I'm not sure if it only applies to the rear projection version but the one I used to keep going (which was rear projection) for a local op had a specific pcb (probably the gun io, maybe to do with the camera) that was unique to this game if I remember correctly. The board I mention might even have been unique to the rear projection version, can't remember to be honest!

Edit: Actually I may be thinking of the JVS I/O RAYS-R pcb, which is apparently what controls the CCD camera and is cross compatible with Time Crisis 3 and Crisis Zone. They made a second version which they say addressed the problems with the original which had "heating issues".

 

[handbakedarcade]

I have a working Vampire Night if I can help in anyway?

Would you be able to confirm which variant of the Namco 246 hardware it has inside?

 

[handbakedarcade]

I might be wrong but in all the images I have seen of the system board for Vampire Night it showed a unique PCB (rack A variant with board specific I/O and connections) but I can see that you are using a generic rack B motherboard. This might be the cause of your issues.

ok, this is interesting. I am hoping @david656 above can confirm which version is inside his machine

 

[david656]

ok, this is interesting. I am hoping @david656 above can confirm which version is inside his machine

oooo time for me to do something marginally helpful maybe? ha. OK first of all I'll need to get into the machine, the guy didn't sell it with a key but said it was a generic key (forget the number) I ordered one on Ebay and have it but haven't tried it. I think the key is upstairs somewhere, now I have a need to try and open the machine I'll take it over the unit this week and check for you. when I open the machine what am I looking for, will I need to remove the boards/PCB cage?

 

[handbakedarcade]

oooo time for me to do something marginally helpful maybe? ha. OK first of all I'll need to get into the machine, the guy didn't sell it with a key but said it was a generic key (forget the number) I ordered one on Ebay and have it but haven't tried it. I think the key is upstairs somewhere, now I have a need to try and open the machine I'll take it over the unit this week and check for you. when I open the machine what am I looking for, will I need to remove the boards/PCB cage?

 

[handbakedarcade]

just pictures of what is in the back may be useful. Though I am certain we have been running a variant B motherboard on this machine fine. So initially a pic of the main pcb, just taking the back of the macine and a picture of that will be useful/interesting.

 

[handbakedarcade]

I might be wrong but in all the images I have seen of the system board for Vampire Night it showed a unique PCB (rack A variant with board specific I/O and connections) but I can see that you are using a generic rack B motherboard. This might be the cause of your issues.

also, to add. You may be right concerning the bench test and not having the correct IO, but I will still expecting something to come on screen, even if it was to tell me the IO was not present or whatever.

 

[david656]

just pictures of what is in the back may be useful. Though I am certain we have been running a variant B motherboard on this machine fine. So initially a pic of the main pcb, just taking the back of the macine and a picture of that will be useful/interesting.

To my amazement the key I bought on Ebay did unlock the back door so I snapped these earlier. I'm not sure off hand how you open the board cage. I went over tonight as I'm busy all day tomorrow and it would be the end of the week before I'm back over there. Does this help?

 

[handbakedarcade]

To my amazement the key I bought on Ebay did unlock the back door so I snapped these earlier. I'm not sure off hand how you open the board cage. I went over tonight as I'm busy all day tomorrow and it would be the end of the week before I'm back over there. Does this help?

Thanks for this. It shows that its a different revision motherboard to what I am using, though it had been working flawlessly for a while, so I am not sure it tells me too much. Will have to get the machine back to my workshop and take a look then.

 

[david656]

Thanks for this. It shows that its a different revision motherboard to what I am using, though it had been working flawlessly for a while, so I am not sure it tells me too much. Will have to get the machine back to my workshop and take a look then.

Let me know if I can help in anyway more.

 

[ZedEx48K]

Don't know if related, but you may have a wiring issues.

 

[david656]

Don't know if related, but you may have a wiring issues.

The funny thing is my cab as far as I know is working fine, guns need some better calibration but you can actually play it. but that is an interesting spot. I'll look into that further one day when I get all my cabinets services and checked over